Quick Links - Poets.org

follow poets.org

Search form

The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

poems

Dear train wreck, dear terrible engines, dear spilled freight, dear unbelievable mess, all these years later I think to write back. I was not who I am now. A sail is a boat, a bark is a boat, a mast is a boat and the train was you and me. Dear dark, dear

I saw the hawk ride updraft in the sunset over Wyoming.
It rose from coniferous darkness, past gray jags
Of mercilessness, past whiteness, into the gloaming
Of dream-spectral light above the lazy purity of snow-snags.
There—west—were the Tetons. Snow-peaks would soon be
In dark profile to break constellations

Ed Trafton turns from the shimmering waterof Shoshone Lake to the first of fifteen tourist coaches,pulls the black silk neckerchief up the bridge of his nose,plants himself in the road and says, “Please step outand come this way.” Black is so hot. “Drop your valuableson the blanket.”